MOVEMENTS OF FLYINGFISH (HIRUNDICHTHYS-AFFINIS) IN THE EASTERN CARIBBEAN

A total of 3,559 flyingfish (Hirundichthys affinis) were tagged and re leased at three locations across the eastern Caribbean (Barbados, Domi nica and Tobago) at the beginning of the 1988 fishing season (January and February) and at Tobago near the end of the season (May), to exami ne the extent and direction of their subsequent movements. A further 3 ,460 flyingfish were tagged and released at Tobago during the 1989 fis hing season, between January and May, to examine seasonal variation in movements. Overall recapture rate was 4.5%. Post-tagging survival was not affected by sex or by the method of capture at tagging. However, recapture rates varied with both place and time of release. Total reca pture rates were highest for fish released at Tobago and lowest for fi sh released at Dominica. Total recapture rates off Tobago were highest for fish released near the beginning (January/February) and at the pe ak (March/April) of the fishing season, and lowest for fish released n ear the end of the season (May). Some fish remained in the release loc ation for several weeks. However, there was considerable mixing of adu lt flyingfish among eastern Caribbean islands, with 10% of all recaptu res being from territorial waters other than those in which the fish w ere released. This suggests that H. affinis in the eastern Caribbean i s probably not segregated into island-specific populations. Dispersion migrations were recorded in all directions, although north-westerly w as most common. Dispersion rate was not affected by fish size or sex, but varied with maturity state and time of year at release. Fish at ma turity Stages 2 (maturing) and 3 (mature) showed greater dispersion th an fish in Stages 4 (running ripe) and 5 (spent). For flyingfish relea sed at Tobago, dispersion was greatest in the early part of the year a nd decreased steadily through the season.